When did the First Continents Appear in the Universe?
On Earth, continents are likely necessary to support life. Continents 'float' on top of the Earth's viscous mantle, and heat…
It’s Like Looking at the Infant Sun: Webb Captures Image of an Energetic Young Star
Ever wondered what our young Sun might have looked like in its infancy some five billion years ago? The audacious…
SpaceX Test Fires a Raptor Engine, Simulating a Lunar Landing
When NASA astronauts return to the surface of the Moon in the Artemis III mission, the plan is to use…
Helicopters Could Map the Magnetic Fields on Mars
A recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal examines how helicopters equipped with a magnetometer could be used to…
A Collection of New Images Reveal X-Rays Across the Universe
One of the miracles of modern astronomy is the ability to ‘see’ wavelengths of light that human eyes can’t. Last…
The Milky Way's Disk is Warped. Is That Because our Dark Matter Halo is Tilted?
Astronomers have measured the Milky Way's shape and found that the disk is warped and not a flat spiral like…
Tiny Swarming Spacecraft Could Establish Communications with Proxima Centauri
New research from the Institute for Interstellar Studies explains how swarms of thousands of tiny spacecraft could maintain communications with…
A New Technique Confirms the Universe is 69% Dark Energy, 31% Matter (Mostly Dark)
How much "stuff" is there in the Universe? You'd think it would be easy to figure out. But, it's not.…
A New Observatory Will Spot Core-Collapse Supernovae Before They Explode
Although we haven't had a supernova explode nearby in a few hundred years, it's just a matter of time before…
If Astronomers See These Chemicals in a Planet’s Atmosphere, There’s Likely an Advanced Civilization There
In an age of ever-growing numbers of exoplanets circling other stars, it's natural that astronomers search for signatures of advanced…